cliff, and republicans don't think the media would accept that narrative. you know better than i would how the media would react but that was the feeling on the republicans' part, they couldn't successfully pin obama with going over the cliff. >> i never speak for the media, i speak only for myself, and i don't know. it's going to depend. you have a column in december that said, john boehner, cat herder. i was thinking the cats got the better of the speaker. what do you think that means for his future? does he remain as speaker? does someone else come in and take over because it's an indication he can't control his own group? >> well, it certainly wasn't a vote of confidence. i think, look, john boehner was right, he gave that press conference today, he said, you know, people like me, something to that effect. it's true. . i talk to congressmen, they like boehner, the problem is they don't respect him enough to listen to him, they don't fear him. and it's kind of sad, if you think about it. there's a structural problem that i think is sort of implicit here.